Truman State starts MIAA play with a road victory

Truman State women at Western Missouri and the Bulldog wrestling team takes on William Penn.

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Kirksville Daily Express - Kirksville, MO

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Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Updated Dec 6, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Updated Dec 6, 2012 at 11:45 AM

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Truman State and Western Missouri tipped off MIAA play last night at the MWSU Fieldhouse, and the Bulldogs made the trip worthwhile, coming home with a 71-69 victory.

The Griffins held a six point lead mid-way through the second half, when the Western bench was whistled for a technical foul. Playing in his first game of the season, Tom Norton stepped to the line and drilled the two free throws, and on the ensuing possession Norton drained a 23-foot three-pointer cutting the lead to a single point.

Mike Carlson who led all scorers with 19 points, took over the game for a stretch in the second half scoring 11 of 12 Bulldog points.

With the ’Dogs up 68-66, Issac Gardner hit two free throws to increase the Truman lead. Western turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play, sealing the Truman State win. The Griffins committed 15 turnovers to help fuel the comeback effort for the Bulldogs.

Carlson added nine boards and three assists to his 19 points, and Gardner and Norton combined for 23 points off the Truman bench.

The win improves the Bulldogs record to 3-3, and marks the first time in six years that they start the MIAA season 1-0.

Missouri Southern makes the trip to Pershing Arena for a Saturday matinee at 3:00 p.m. The Lions will come into play with a 5-3 record and it will also be the conference opener for MSU.

Women’s basketball

Missouri Western 71, Truman State 64: ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - In a scheduling quirk the Lady Griffins and Lady Bulldogs met for the second time in two weeks. This time it was the conference opener for both squads, and Western extracted a small measure of revenge handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season, winning 71-64.

The Lady Griffins used an 11-0 first-half run to take the lead into halftime, a lead they would never give back. Foul trouble hampered the Lady ’Dogs leading scorer Becka McHenry as she was limited to only nine minutes in the first half and was held scoreless.

Jennifer Conway led Truman with 14 points and 10 boards and Amy Briggs added 13, but free throw troubles cost the Lady Bulldogs as they went 12 of 20 from the line.

The loss drops Truman’s record to 5-1 and 0-1 in MIAA play, with the victory Western improves to 8-1 and 1-0, with the only loss being to TSU.

Truman State returns home for a Saturday afternoon game against the Missouri Southern Lions. Tip-off is at 1:00 p.m. at Pershing Arena.

College wrestling

Truman State 29, William Penn11: OSKALOOSA, Iowa- The Bulldogs’ wrestling team improved to 3-0 with its third dual match victory of the season. This time the opponent was William Penn, who Truman took care of 29-11.

Page 2 of 2 - TSU took a 6-0 lead in the match when JJ Dorrell won his match by forfeit. The Bulldogs won seven matches overall including Alex Maus and Ryan Maus winning by tech falls.

Colton Schmitz won his match at 165 pounds 9-2, and Helmut Rentschler came away victorious with a 7-2 win at 197 pounds.

Ishmael Rempson came away with the Statesmens’ biggest victory of the night winning 11-3 in his match.

Truman State wrestling now has a college football bowl like break between matches, as they don’t hit the mats again until January 11 against Lindenwood University at Pershing Arena.